Bloodless
by Underground Supergirl
Summary: The repercussions and consequences of a slayer falling in love with a vampire.
1. Chapter 1

It was an ordinary Friday and he looked perfectly normal, I noticed, with his black hair tied into a neat braid reaching to hi

It was an ordinary Friday and he looked perfectly normal, I noticed, with his black hair tied into a neat braid reaching to his shoulder blades and warm brown eyes beneath thick, bushy, black eyebrows. A light ghost of five o'clock shadow graced his strong jawline and his skin glowed like new-fallen snow. He twisted his braid around his fingers as he concentrated on his notebook, but whether he was writing or drawing, I wasn't sure.

His clothes were simple, just a black tee shirt, jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers, but the way he wore them suggested he'd be more comfortable in a long cape, tall boots, and a poet shirt. I watched him behind the guise of reading a book, watching through my sunglasses in the hot afternoon sunshine. He was sitting at a table in the shade, but I didn't want to get any closer and reveal my presence.

He did not leave for quite a while. Finally, at dusk, he packed up his belongings and left the park, his sweatshirt sagging around his wiry frame. I followed him inconspicuously, driving in my car. I was out to kill Xavier Rynne because he was not, after all, an ordinary twenty-one-year-old, but a vampire and I, twenty-year-old Celine de Beauvoire, was a vampire slayer.

I had been watching this latest target for a few days, sensing his waiting blood lust. He'd killed a human only once, I could tell, and that had been by accident. Still, the young man was dangerous and I had to put the community at ease before they discovered the truth.

Xavier tossed his keys down on a table in his front hall and walked through the kitchen, grabbing a can of chicken blood from his refrigerator and settling in front of his computer. He then proceeded to instant-message for a few hours, and I watched him set up plans through a pair of ordinary binoculars.

I watched until he started changing, then I looked away, more for my own sake than his, and turned back a few minutes later. He was wearing black pants and a blood red button-front shirt over a silky black tee shirt with a pair of snazzy black shoes. I knew he was heading to a club that evening, one that was frequented by others of his kind, so the moment I knew what he was wearing, I drove off in my car to return home.

Quickly, I dressed in a red skirt, a short black kimono, and my favorite tall black boots, which were criss-crossed with red leather, then I ran to get into my car and practically shot into the downtown of the city where the club was located.

The moment I walked up to the club, I noticed Xavier standing in line. I waited for a few people to fill in between him and me, then filed in with the others out for the night. Xavier's first move was to get a drink at the bar. I knew he was drinking only for his own pleasure since the beverage would do nothing to slake his thirst.

I sidled up next to him and ordered the same beverage, sipping the sweet concoction. "Are you a regular here?" he asked me suavely.

"Somewhat. Why do you ask?" I replied, equally smooth, equally cool. Xavier just smiled confidently.

"You ordered that drink with authority, like you're a woman who knows what she wants," Xavier replied, leaning on the bar on one elbow. "That's a stiff drink, takes a strong stomach to keep it down."

"Well I do know what I want and I can hold my liquor," I replied though I'd never had a drink in public before. Though I was really twenty, all my records recorded me as a year older than I was so I could have all the rights of an adult. This was crucial to my profession and the lies didn't bother me too much.

"Would you like to dance?" Xavier asked the moment I set my drink down. I nodded and accepted his outstretched hand. Xavier turned me around and we danced for a while before he asked, "So, my mysterious dance partner, are you going to tell me your name?"

"Tell me yours first and I may consider it," I replied cryptically, a smile on my face as we danced.

"It's Xavier," he said over the music. "Xavier Rynne." He twirled me under his arm and asked, "So? Your turn."

I laughed and, before I could think about an alias, I told him, "I'm Celine de Beauvoire." I felt my heart skip a beat; I was a relatively well-known slayer and if Xavier knew who I was, that would ruin everything.

However, my cover remained intact because he simply replied, "I like your name. Are you French?" I nodded as the song changed to a slow one.

"You?" I asked, smiling as we danced. I had him right where I needed him if I were going to kill him, but as I felt the hilt of my knife slip into my hand, I resheathed the blade at my hip, deciding to milk information from the vampire if I could.

"Gaelic to a fault," he laughed. I smiled as though I was having the time of my life as we whirled around the floor. Finally, I decided it was late and that I wanted to go home, so we exchanged screen names, email addresses, and cell phone numbers before parting.


	2. Chapter 2

I noted every detail of the evening the moment I got home, as the people I worked for would want a report for this job

I noted every detail of the evening the moment I got home, as the people I worked for would want a report for this job. I wasn't sure whether or not to include Xavier's email and phone number at first, but in the end I decided not to. Xavier Rynne was going to die at my hands; I wouldn't risk another slayer taking my job.

When I'd finished my log, I turned in for the night, tired beyond any exhaustion I could remember. As I changed into pajamas and climbed into bed, I couldn't help but sense another presence in the small apartment.

My anxiety, however, was defeated by my exhaustion and eventually I fell asleep, not to be woken until noon the next day when my cell phone rang.

I picked up the ringing, pocket-sized device and flicked it open, immediately stating, "Celine de Beauvoire. May I help you?"

"Oh, Celine, darling, how good it is to hear your voice again!" gushed the voice on the other end of the line. My mother's voice.

"Mother, this is my business phone," I told her. "You could be tying up the line if my boss tries to call and tell me about a job."

"Oh, darling, this won't take but a minute! Besides, you need to stop working so hard or you'll never find a man," my mother replied.

"Why are you calling me?" I sighed as I scratched my head.

"Well, Celine, as you know, Pierre Vie's cousin is getting married this Sunday and I managed to snag you a seat right beside him. I thought, well, since you're both single at the moment that maybe-" but I cut my mother off right there.

I vented, "Mother, the reason we're both single is because we broke up with each other! I do not want to go to his cousin's wedding and I do not want to associate with anyone from that family ever again! Do you remember last time I met their parents? When Pierre was announcing our engagement? They didn't think there was any good reason he'd marry me other than risking a child out of wedlock! His mother hates me, and so does the rest of their little unit! I want nothing to do with any of them!"

"Celine, darling, surely you don't mean that!" my mother enthused. "I mean, it's been nearly two months since you last talked to Pierre! Surely you two can simply kiss and make up!"

"Mother, no. Look, I have to go. My boss is probably trying to reach me." With that, I hung up on the woman and flopped back onto my bed, screaming into my pillow. When the phone rang again five minutes later, I practically chucked it at the wall. When I looked at the caller ID, I was suddenly glad I hadn't. "Xavier?" I asked with a sly smile.

"Yes," he replied. "I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie sometime this weekend?"

"I'd love to," I replied. "How about Sunday? At eight?" I smiled at the thought of Xavier in a dark theatre. It would be the perfect opportunity to figure out what kind of humans he was seeking out as his next victims.

"Sounds like a plan," he replied. "I'll pick you up at seven-thirty, all right?"

"Sure," I replied and we hung up, then I immediately dialed my mother back and, in a fit of left-over adolescent rebellion, I told her, "Mom? Want another reason I can't go Sunday? I have a date. So put that in your pipe and smoke it." With that, I hung up and squealed like a giddy schoolgirl.

At four, I shlupped off to Mass, wondering how on earth I was going to complete this mission. Of course, if I completed it, my boss would have to promote me. I'd worked too long and too hard to not be recognized for my efforts.

Finally, I returned home, went for a run, ate an entirely unsatisfying microwave dinner, and settled in for the evening. I was on edge, almost anticipating the ringing of my phone and Xavier's voice on the other end of the line.

At midnight I dragged myself off to bed, only to wake up at ten the next morning and start flipping out in anticipation and preparation for my date. I darted out my door to my boss's apartment, three buildings down from my own.

"Anyette, I need help," I told her. Immediately, the thirty-something slayer who had trained me and now ran a network of slayers drew me in, looking me up and down critically.

"Come with me," she smiled as she led me to her closet. She opened the door and started pulling out clothes. "Go take a shower and put these on," Anyette smiled, handing me a pair of jeans, a bright blue blouse, and some sandals.

I showered and dressed, then left Anyette's house at about seven. I drove home and proceeded to wait for Xavier to come pick me up.

He arrived at exactly seven thirty-five in a flame-red sports car. I smiled as I tucked a knife into my purse with my keys and my lipstick and headed out the door. The moment I set foot in the car, Xavier smiled, "You look lovely, Celine."

"Thanks, so do you," I replied, my eyes flicking over him, taking in his jeans and black button-down shirt. His hair was down and I saw it hit at the middle of his back. That could be an effective weakness to exploit, I realized with a smile.

The movie was boring enough that I totally ignored it, instead studying Xavier. However, I was paying enough attention to realize it was a horror movie so I could grab his hand at the right times, just to see how he reacted. By the end of the movie, he had taken my hand in his and our hands, fingers entwined, sat on the armrest. I noticed that I ate all the popcorn and that Xavier only touched his beverage once, even remembering what soda he ordered, which was Mountain Dew Code Red, for the records I was keeping.

After the movie, Xavier drove me back to my apartment building and, pecking me lightly on the cheek, bid me good night. I smiled when I realized he wouldn't get in his car until I was safely inside. I fumbled with my keys for a while, surprised when he stopped me and dropped a light peck on my lips.

"Good night, Celine," Xavier smiled before walking away. I just smiled, knowing I was worming my way into his unbeating heart and that he was having no effect on me whatsoever.


	3. Chapter 3

I settled in, then sent an email to Anyette, telling her about the progress of the assignment

I settled in, then sent an email to Anyette, telling her about the progress of the assignment. She replied almost immediately, wanting to know why I hadn't just killed him already. I answered that I wanted all the information I could get from him, but Anyette started threatening to take me off the case, saying that I just wanted to get close to him. I simply replied that I would take care of business and that she had nothing to worry about, then turned off the computer and settled into bed, feeling again that I was not alone.

The next morning, I woke to the strangest buzzing and beeping sounds coming from my computer where I'd saved my entire file on Xavier. Finally, there was a poof of smoke from my shaking hard drive and my computer lay to rest. Cursing and swearing, I kicked the lump of metal that had been so instrumental for my job and left the room to shower, dress, and go out and buy a new computer

I threw on a crummy pair of jeans and an ordinary, if slightly grungy, gray tee-shirt, threw my hip-length, dark red hair in a bun, and dashed out of the house as I grabbed my purse. I'd just gotten my paycheck from Anyette, so I had fresh cash in my purse and fresh cash in my bank account. I could afford a new computer, considering my sizeable savings. Slaying paid very well if one didn't mind risking his or her life every night.

I picked up an ordinary Dell laptop with stuff like CD burning and a flash drive and handed over three thousand dollars of my hard-earned money in cash, relishing the look of shock on the clerk's face that such a grungy girl was forking over 3k in paper bills. I accepted the bag with a smile, then returned home where I started setting up my new database.

I salvaged my old flashdrive by no small miracle and plugged it into my new laptop. The first file I checked was my first file, the first vampire I'd ever slain. It was there, as were the next several hundred thousand. Xavier's file, however, was locked for some reason. I played around with passwords for a good half-hour before it clicked. I typed in his name, just to find that all my data was not only still intact but more complete. I scrolled down to the bottom of the screen, where I found a note from the vampire himself that read "I hope this helps you in your investigation, Celine. X." I shut down the computer immediately before changing. I threw on the same outfit I wore to the club, hiding knives and daggers all over my body.

I immediately dashed out into the streets of the city, hurrying through to Xavier's apartment, but when I arrived there, I found the building was locked.

However, Xavier buzzed me up and I ran up all three flights of stairs to his door. The moment it opened, I threw myself into his arms, a dagger in my hand the second I wrapped my arms around his neck. Xavier, though, was not easily fooled and knew I'd come to kill him. He threw me roughly into the apartment, against the wall, and shut the door with a loud BANG. Then, he advanced on me like he thought I'd stay put on the floor.

Much to his chagrin, I was up and moving before Xavier could lick one extra-sharp tooth. He, however, could blink anywhere he wished and was beside me in a second, my own dagger pressed against my neck.

"It didn't have to end like this," Xavier whispered, pressing the blade against my neck. "You could have let this go."

"I couldn't just let you get off free. You're a murderer," I bit out as the flat edge of the blade pressed harder.

Xavier fell away, the blade clattering to the floor. "I didn't kill anyone," he whispered as though he was shocked by the rumor.

"Yeah? Then who killed my brother?" I asked. I had had a twin brother who had been a slayer also and he was the one kill that Xavier had made, however unintentionally it may have been.

Xavier's eyes flew wide and he shook his head, "No, Celine, I didn't kill him. The vampire who did it is now dead and I, who am of his line, am tainted by the blood. I've never killed a man in my life."

"You're not alive!" I screamed as I grabbed up my silver knife and went to stab it through Xavier's dead heart.

"Celine, stop!" he ordered as he caught my wrists in his hands. The long, graceful fingers I'd admired when he'd been drawing now wrapped tightly around my wrists, hard enough to bruise. "Killing me won't bring your brother back!" I went limp as I fell against his chest, sobbing. Xavier wrapped his arms around me tightly, rubbing my back and murmuring in my ear comfortingly.

"We could have killed each other, I should kill you," I whispered, shocked as I backed away. Xavier looked vulnerable even as he handed me the knife.

I had to kill him, I knew, but I couldn't do it. He just looked so innocent, and I had to wonder if he was telling the truth, that he really hadn't killed my brother.

"Then do it," Xavier whispered. He then pulled off his shirt and turned so his back was to me. His hair fell down his back to nearly his waist but he pulled it aside and I saw a strangely-shaped scar on his right shoulder blade. "It was your brother's mark," he told me. I timidly stepped forward and traced the mark with my finger. "It appeared the day he died. You alone can kill me, but you can also return me to humanity."

"Why would I do that? You are a vampire! You are this way by choice!" I shot out, unable to be anything but a jerk at the moment despite Xavier's behavior.

Immediately, Xavier spun around and, grabbing my wrists with one hand, pinned me up against the wall. "You don't know what it's like, do you?" he growled. "Knowing that, no matter what I do or feel, I will outlive any lover of mine, that only one person in the entirety of the history and the future of the world can change that, and that she won't do it. Do you know what that is like? My kind is supposed to be unlovable and unloving, and then I meet you, a slayer of all things, and everything changes! Do you know how that feels?" However, I just kissed him.

"I'll do it," I whispered. "What do I have to do?" Xavier just smiled as he buried his face in my neck.

"Just tell me that you love me, and mean it," he whispered as he let my wrists go and hugged me tightly. "Celine?" He picked his head up.

"I love you," I whispered, playing with his hair with one hand, my other hand fisted against his chest, from whence I could feel beating.


	4. Chapter 4

"It worked," Xavier whispered, his lips curling into a smile as he hugged me close

"It worked," Xavier whispered, his lips curling into a smile as he hugged me close. I inhaled his scent of old-world herbs as we stood there. "I actually need to breathe again," he mused. I just clung to Xavier.

"I totally just lost my job," I whined, but Xavier just laughed. "What is so funny?"

"You think I'd want you out there on the streets, risking your life every night?" he asked. I smiled and shook my head. "Good, because I was hoping you'd spend your nights with me."

I was about to rebut with some witty response when my cell phone started to ring. I opened it up and the caller ID read "Mom".

"It's my mother," I told Xavier, placing one finger against his lips as I pressed the talk button. "Hello?" I asked.

"Celine, darling, where are you?" my mother asked. "You never showed up to Pierre's cousin's wedding last Sunday and you haven't called me in days! Where have you been?"

"I've been busy, Mom, and I told you I wasn't going to that wedding. I had a date," I replied.

I could practically hear my mother's eyes roll as she sighed painfully, "Darling, you work far too much. Why don't you take a week away from that dreadful top-secret job of yours and come stay with dear old Mum and Dad?"

"Fine, but I'm bringing someone with me," I replied before hanging up. To Xavier, I whispered, "Sorry about that, my mother is crazy and she demands to see me and that I stay over all week."

"I surmised so much," Xavier smiled. "You were planning on bringing me, weren't you? The infamous "meet-the-parents" stuff, right?" I just nodded dejectedly and Xavier whispered softly, "Hey, don't pout, it'll be fun." I smiled and Xavier kissed my cheek.

"I should get home, I have to pack and hand in my report. I'll tell Anyette you're dead and that I'm retiring and that will be that," I sighed. Xavier kissed me one last time and I left, listening to the door shut behind me.

Almost dejectedly, I walked back down to the ground floor. Sure, I had Xavier, but at what cost?

I did what I told Xavier I had to do, first finishing the report and handing it into Anyette. The woman was one of my dearest friends as well as my boss and she actually cried when I told her I was retiring.

"But you're so talented!" she wailed as I hugged her gently. I waited for her to stop crying and she wiped her face before sighing, "Well, at least tell me why you're retiring."

"I met someone," I replied. "He's absolutely amazing, but when I told him about my profession, leaving out the vamps of course, he started to get really protective and we both agreed that if we wanted to someday have a family together, that maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to be risking my life every night. So anyway, Xavier's file is finished; here it is."

"What will you do now?" Anyette asked as she took the file.

"I don't know," I shrugged as I headed towards the door. Twisting the doorknob, I turned back to hug Anyette good-bye and left.

Returning home, I packed enough clothes and toiletries for a week. My parents probably wouldn't appreciate my vampire-slaying clothes, which consisted of mostly black leather, so I threw in three pairs of dark blue jeans, a couple of skirts, my short kimono, and a few shirts. My hair was long and loose and I saw it reached my hips. I brushed it, then packed a jacket in my suitcase and slipped about ten few hair ties on my wrist.

Just as I was finishing getting ready, somebody started knocking on my door. Opening it, I smiled. Xavier stepped into my apartment and immediately hugged me warmly.

Then, he saw my suitcase and asked, "Going somewhere?"

"My mother invited us, remember? We're staying over there for a week starting tonight," I replied. Xavier's face paled and I smiled, "Relax, Xavier. My mother'll just be glad I brought someone home for once instead of more work." Xavier just sighed.

"Fine, I'll meet you back here in a bit," he whispered. Kissing my cheek, he left and I listened as he clomped down the stairs.

Xavier returned about an hour later and helped me to get my suitcase down to his car. I drove his sleek red Mercedes to my parents' house and pulled into a driveway lined with pink and yellow tulips. Xavier looked sickened at the sight of the flowers, but he took my hand as we walked up to the door of the house and I rang the bell.

My mother was a petite woman with short black hair who wore sharp black or khaki pants and either turtleneck sweaters or polo shirts almost all the time. The moment she opened the door, I could practically hear Xavier gulp. "Hello, Celine, darling," my mother greeted me. "Who is this young gentleman?"

"Xavier Rynne," he introduced himself, holding out a hand to my mother for her to shake. She smiled confusedly at the long-haired man in front of her, not quite sure what to make of him.

"It's nice to meet you," my mother smiled awkwardly. I repressed laughter and squeezed Xavier's hand as we followed my mother inside. "René!" my mother called and my father entered the living room.

He was a tall, strong man, with blond hair and a small bald patch at the very back of the crown of his head. My father was far more casual than my mother, wearing just jeans and tee-shirts usually.

"Celine!" he smiled as he folded me into his arms. "Who is this?" he asked, seeing Xavier.

"This is Xavier," I smiled. "Xavier Rynne." My father shook his hand grudgingly and I asked, "Is the pool open?"

"Yeah, why? You two already want to go swimming? Why not go settle in first?" My mother attempted to control everything again, just as she had for my entire life.

"Because we'd like to go swimming," I replied. I led Xavier upstairs to my room, which was still the same as it had been when I was ten and had decided everything should be pink.

"So this is the bedroom of a future vampire slayer, huh?" Xavier mocked me. I whacked his arm and glared.

"Well, I bet your bedroom was covered in Star Wars wallpaper and had a camouflage bedspread!" I tossed back.

"So what? That completely beats pink any day!" Xavier mock-shouted in reply as he walked me towards the doors of my closet. My eyes widened when I saw the door of my room was open but I smiled when I realized Xavier was about to kiss me.

We kissed steadily for a few minutes, then I whispered, "I want to go swimming before dark." I then pushed by Xavier to my suitcase and unpacked a relatively conservative black tankini with a skirted bottom. I changed in the bathroom to give Xavier privacy, which I myself valued, and returned a few minutes later.


	5. Chapter 5

Xavier was wearing a pair of green swim trunks when I opened the door of my room, a towel and goggles in hand

Xavier was wearing a pair of green swim trunks when I opened the door of my room, a towel and goggles in hand. I snorted and laughed at the goggles, pulling Xavier downstairs.

I ran and jumped into the pool, swimming around while I waited for Xavier to put on his goggles and wade slowly in the shallow end.

"What? Is swimming not your thing?" I asked. He just shrugged as he shivered.

"It's cold. I haven't felt cold in a long time." I just smirked and kissed him. Just as we were really getting into the kiss, we heard the gate of the pool opening and broke apart just in time for my parents to walk up on deck.

"I think it's time to get out," I said coldly, more at my parents than to Xavier. I took his hand as we walked up the underwater steps out of the pool. I snatched my towel angrily from the fence and glared at my parents as I all but pulled Xavier up to the house.

"You really do not like your mother, do you?" Xavier observed, twisting his goggles in his hands. I shrugged noncommittally and Xavier smirked, prodding my shoulder with his.

"It's not that I don't like her, I just resent her meddling," I replied. "She doesn't know when to back down." Xavier sighed and I yawned as we meandered through the hallways to my room.

This time, I sent Xavier to the bathroom to change and hurriedly threw on dry clothes. Wrapping a towel around my head, I waited for him to return.

"Hello," he greeted me. I just smiled before kissing him. "You really would have killed me?" he asked.

Little did he know what I was still planning. "It was my job," I replied innocently. "What? You can't see me as a slayer?" Xavier just shook his head. "Well, I killed thousands of vamps, so you can just hush."

Xavier smirked and I tugged him over to the bed. "Are your parents going to let us share this room?" Xavier asked as I sat down and tugged him down beside me, deciding to kill him that night when he was asleep.

We returned downstairs a bit later, just to eat, and Xavier practically got interrogated to the third degree by my mother.

"Do you have a job? Where do you live? What kind of family do you have? Did your mother meet my daughter? Did she like her? Oh, dear, I hope I'm not asking too many questions!" my mother gushed.

"Well, I recently got a job with a manufacturing company, managing quite a few people, and Celine and I actually live just a few blocks apart. The majority of my family lives abroad, since my parents were immigrants from Scotland and Wales, and they died just a few years ago, both from a blood disorder, so no, my mother never got a chance to meet Celine. However, I know that if she had, she'd have loved her as a daughter." I breathed deeply when Xavier gave my mother all the right answers and took his hand beneath the table.

"Oh, darling, I'm so sorry!" my mother emoted, laying a hand on Xavier's forearm. As I was the only one who usually touched him, he flinched and I glared at my mother.

"Well, mother, thank you for lunch. Xavier and I are going to go out now and we'll be back in time for dinner," I said hurriedly, all but yanking Xavier upstairs behind me. "Go change into club clothes," I told him. "Then, meet me in the car, okay?"

"Sure," Xavier grinned. He pecked my cheek, then grabbed some black pants and a button-down shirt from his luggage, heading to the bathroom.

I drove us to a club, we flashed our ID cards at the bouncer, and he let us in. Xavier had left his hair down and as we danced, I couldn't help but run my fingers through it.

"So I take it you like my hair?" Xavier asked. I just nodded as we moved to the music. "What would you do if I cut it?"

"I'd probably cry," I replied. "Your hair is, like, perfect. It's so long and thick and soft and…I just love it on you." I blushed but Xavier just kissed me and we continued to dance.

"I'm glad you like it," he smirked, twirling me. My own hair was a dark burgundy color and fell just past my hips. My mother hated how long my hair was and had been begging me to cut it for years, but I refused. I loved my hair, almost as much as I loved Xavier's hair. I knew I should be looking at Xavier, trying to find weaknesses of his that I could exploit, but the only weakness I could find was the weakness in my knees.

was a good thing I had retired from slaying, since if Anyette could see what Xavier and I had become, she would be furious. I knew I had to kill him, just because I had sworn to do so, but when I looked into his warm brown eyes, I knew that I could never kill him. He was a man now, anyway, and when I'd first started slaying, I'd vowed never to kill a man. Xavier was no longer a vampire, I reasoned, and he actually had never killed a man, so I really had no reason to kill him.

"Is something wrong?" Xavier asked me. I shook my head as I clung to Xavier. He wrapped an arm around me and we left the dance floor in favor of one of the booths along the wall. I shook my head as he supported me. "Come on, I think you should get home."

"Xavier, I have to tell you something," I whispered. Xavier turned back to me and I sat up. "Xavier, when I retired from slaying, I didn't really retire, not in my heart. I still thought I had to kill you. I'd promised Anyette I would and, as much as I hated the idea, I felt obligated to do it. I was going to kill you tonight when you were sleeping, but just now, it fully hit me that I love you and you're a human now, so even if you were the most vile creature on earth, I still wouldn't be able to kill you. I'm sorry, and if you want to never see me again, I'll understand."

Xavier just stared at me. "You were going to kill me?" he asked. "And while I was sleeping? While I was unarmed?" I nodded and wiped tears from my eyes. "I can't believe you! After I basically left myself open and vulnerable to you, you were going to kill me? Why? I told you, I'm not a murderer, and I'm not a vampire anymore! You've felt my heart beating, for crying out loud! How could you know all that and still want to kill me? And don't give me any bullcrap about vendettas and old unfinished business. You promised me you were through with slaying! You said you loved me! And now you tell me you were going to kill me?"  
"No! I'm telling you that I'd originally planned to, but now I can't! I can't because I love you!" With that, I picked up my coat and got up from the bench, going to run from the club but fainting before I got to the door.

I woke up in a cold, white hospital bed with no one in the room and no sounds but the beeping of a heart monitor. I looked around, desperately looking for something, anything, that would relieve my loneliness. When my parents walked through the door, I nearly wanted to scream.


	6. Chapter 6

In fact, I did scream and the nurses immediately rushed my parents out of the room

In fact, I did scream and the nurses immediately rushed my parents out of the room. She poked her head in a moment later to tell me they were gone, but the young man who had come with them refused to leave.

"Would you like me to show him in?" she asked me. I propped myself up on my elbows and asked for a physical description. Leaning out for a moment, she said, "Ridiculously long hair, a black sweatshirt, and jeans."

"Bring him in," I said, shocked that Xavier had come to see me. When Xavier walked into my room, I suddenly felt a wave of shame and hurt come over me. "What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I'm doing what the vampires told me not to do. I'm loving you," replied he before kissing me. "Celine, look, I forgive you, but I want all your weapons and a promise to marry me," he whispered.

"Yes," I replied, kissing him again. Xavier pushed my hair off my forehead and kissed the exposed skin, then sat beside me and took my hand in his. I shivered in the sudden cold.

"What is it?" Xavier asked. "Are you cold?" I nodded and he folded me into his arms so I could bury my face in his sweatshirt. "Better?" I nodded as I clung to Xavier.

"I can't believe I almost lost you," I whispered as Xavier rubbed my back. I cried for a good minute, then slowly, my breathing returned to normal. "I am so sorry." He kissed the side of my head and I sighed, hiccupping.

"I forgive you," he whispered. "I love you." I choked and Xavier held me tighter. "Now, hand over the knife I know you have concealed on your body," he smirked.

"I'm not carrying anything," I replied, chuckling weakly. Xavier kissed my cheek as he pulled back. "Really!" I added.

"You promise?" Xavier teased. I just nodded and he kissed me again. "Good lord, woman, you taste like salt," he taunted. I whacked his arm and glared playfully. "I'm just kidding," he whispered.

"I know," I replied. We were suddenly shy; the easy intimacy of the previous moment was gone. "Something wrong?" I asked. Xavier shook his head and took a deep breath. "What is it? Tell me!"

"I'm sorry, it's just going to take a while to get back to where we were. You know?" I nodded and clung to Xavier. "We will get there," he promised. "I love you." I blushed, completely embarrassed, but feeling whole at last.


End file.
